December Days 2020 #04: The Secret Stash
Dec. 4th, 2020 08:10 pm[O hai. It's December Days time, and this year, I'm taking requests, since it's been a while and I have new people on the list and it's 2020, the year where everyone is both closer to and more distant from their friends and family. So if you have a thought you'd like me to talk about on one of these days, let me know and I'll work it into the schedule. That includes things like further asks about anything in a previous December Days tag, if you have any questions on that regard.]
Here's today's question, from![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
james
The first thing that comes to mind is the unedited S. Morgenstern Princess Bride. (Yes, I know, it never existed.) Just because the "good bits" version has left out a lot of things in it that might be quite interesting indeed. But, I suspect we're supposed to limit ourselves to the things that existed or plausibly might exist, and also those things where it wouldn't be obvious that something was up, say by using a Time Turner so that I could experience a day of having to go to work and then having that same day to do anything but work at home.
The additional conditions of "never show it to anyone nor let anyone know that you have it" makes a lot of eminently practical or valuable objects fall by the wayside, because their point would be to be used and then showcased, or to have the knoweledge gained from it used in some form for the betterment of people. I suppose, in that sense, something like the Wizard's Manual from Diane Duane's So You Want To Be A Wizard would qualify under all of the restrictions, in that I wouldn't really want someone else to know I've got it or show it to them, even other Wizards, since they presumably have their own to consult. Although that might eventually run afoul of the "nobody else can know you have it" clause if ever I have to work with another Wizard on something or some entity uses the Speech and I react to it.
Something that I would want and couldn't show anyone or let anyone know I have? Sounds almost like I shoulud be asking for whatever my own equivalent of the Picture of Dorian Grey is, with the specific idea of then burying it somewhere that would take effort to find and then destroy or stare at long enough to cause the reversal in it. Most of the things that I want would be things I would want to share (or brag) about, so that's probably not very helpful at all.
Yeah, unless it's something like a reality-altering artifact that I can use to try and make the world into a better place, whether I succeed or not, I don't know that there's anything that I want to have and keep completely to myself. I suppose that's a disappointing answer, but it's the truth.
Here's today's question, from
jamesIf you could own one artifact from any point in time and place, but you could never ever show it to anyone or let on that you have it, what item would you want? (Also, if it were an ancient book you could not "magically" show up knowing how to read/speak that language bc you learned it from the book. Magic wish and magic takebacks! ;-) )
The first thing that comes to mind is the unedited S. Morgenstern Princess Bride. (Yes, I know, it never existed.) Just because the "good bits" version has left out a lot of things in it that might be quite interesting indeed. But, I suspect we're supposed to limit ourselves to the things that existed or plausibly might exist, and also those things where it wouldn't be obvious that something was up, say by using a Time Turner so that I could experience a day of having to go to work and then having that same day to do anything but work at home.
The additional conditions of "never show it to anyone nor let anyone know that you have it" makes a lot of eminently practical or valuable objects fall by the wayside, because their point would be to be used and then showcased, or to have the knoweledge gained from it used in some form for the betterment of people. I suppose, in that sense, something like the Wizard's Manual from Diane Duane's So You Want To Be A Wizard would qualify under all of the restrictions, in that I wouldn't really want someone else to know I've got it or show it to them, even other Wizards, since they presumably have their own to consult. Although that might eventually run afoul of the "nobody else can know you have it" clause if ever I have to work with another Wizard on something or some entity uses the Speech and I react to it.
Something that I would want and couldn't show anyone or let anyone know I have? Sounds almost like I shoulud be asking for whatever my own equivalent of the Picture of Dorian Grey is, with the specific idea of then burying it somewhere that would take effort to find and then destroy or stare at long enough to cause the reversal in it. Most of the things that I want would be things I would want to share (or brag) about, so that's probably not very helpful at all.
Yeah, unless it's something like a reality-altering artifact that I can use to try and make the world into a better place, whether I succeed or not, I don't know that there's anything that I want to have and keep completely to myself. I suppose that's a disappointing answer, but it's the truth.
